The present invention relates to a coating composition for protecting the bodies of automobiles or the like and at the same time displaying a soft and bright texture by way of ornament.
For a finish coating of automobiles and bicycles, a method of using a solid color coating and a method of using a metallic coating are mainly adopted.
Inorganic pigments such as titanium dioxide pigments and iron oxide pigments, and organic pigments having excellent weather resistance such as copper phthalocyanine pigments, quinacridone pigments and perylene pigments are usually used for a solid color coating.
For a metallic coating, metal powder such as aluminum powder and mica are used together with the above-described organic pigments or the like so as to display a bright texture.
A coating film formed by using such a metallic coating is required to have a sufficient durability for protecting the substrate and an ornamental property (beautiful appearance).
As the above-described metallic coatings, a metallic coating obtained by mixing granular iron oxide with a metal powder such as aluminum powder or mica is usable. However, from such a coating containing granular iron oxide, a coated product having a characteristic bright texture cannot be produced, because it does not produce a phenomenon of light interference.
The above-described metallic coatings have durability almost sufficient for meeting the market demands, but the aesthetic appearance on the object of coating is not satisfactory in the respect of soft and bright texture.
As a result of the studies undertaken by the present inventors so as to eliminate the above-mentioned defects, it has been found that plate-like iron oxide particles having an average particle diameter of 0.5 to 5.0 .mu.m, a lamellar thickness of 50 to 500 .ANG. and a plate ratio (the ratio of particles diameter to thickness) of 50:1 to 500:1 show a phenomenon of light interference and that by applying a coating composition obtained by mixing these iron oxide particles with a colored pigment, the thus-obtained coated product shows a soft and bright texture which is different from the texture produced by applying a conventional coating composition containing a metal powder or a mica. On the basis of the findings, the present invention has been achieved.